Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

...can you help me in my research about Pythagorean triples..given only a side of right triangle..what is the easiest method to derive the other two sides?secondly, if the given side is the hypotenuse,what is the measure of the other two legs?

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

Pythagorean triples are of the form.

In my opinion, given only one side of a right-angled triangle, it is not possible to find the other two sides.Consider this counter-example.(5, 12, 13) are the sides of a right angled triangle.(9, 12, 15) are also the sides of a right angled triangle.If you are given only one side, namely, 12, how would you say which are the other two sides?

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Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

mathsyperson wrote:

On a 30-60-90 triangle, the longest side is always twice as big as the shortest side.That fact, along with Pythagoras and the side length you know, should let you find out everything about the triangle.

to add to that ... the sides of the triangle will be in the ratio (side opp to 30 deg):(side opp to 60 deg):side opp to 90 deg) = 1:√3:2 ....

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

im in 8th grade algbra 1 and what you do is take a squared and add it by b squared these are the sides of the triangle it really dosnt matter which order they go in then you square both number s and add them together to get c squared.. then you take that awnser and get the square root of that and there is the awnser for the missing length. (:

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

okay. so my final is in 3 days and im screwed. im looking at my final review packet and their are a few things that are really confusing me. i just don't get it but i catch on easy.. sometimes. if it has meaning.is someone willing to help a lost cause... heres the question if you are.

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

This is for the people who dont understand the pythagorean theorem. How to calculate the missing side of a right triangle. Here is an example.... A = bottom of triangle B = Side of triangle C = missing side........ A = 24 B = 10 now you just sqaure both numbers.... on your calculater if you have one is an X with an exponent 2 above it and that symbol means square.... square both numbers 24 squared = 576 10 squared = 100 both added = 676...... now 676 = 26 squared. If you don't get it now your hopeless. JK

Re: finding the missing side of a triangle

Well it seems that a lot of people don't seem to understand which side is which and hence getting confused. when i teach my students, i enphasize on labelling the sides properly before attempting a question. So whenever you have a right angle triangle and you are missing a side, say to yourself that you are going to use pythagoras.

Pythagoras theorem is a^2+b^2=c^2

get into the habit of labeling the shortest side a, the longest side c and the medium side b. Once you have labelled them, you should be able to see which side you need to work out. depending on that use the following formulae

if you are missing a then use:

a^2=c^2-b^2

if you are missing b then use:

b^2=c^2-a^2

and if you are missing c then use

c^2 = a^+b^2

now its just a matter of picking the right formula and changing the letters with the corresponding numbers and squaring them appropriately. Hope that helps